


A Novel Christmas

by ladyshadowdrake



Category: Grimm
Genre: A little angst, Christmas Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-05
Updated: 2015-01-05
Packaged: 2018-03-05 12:44:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3120614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyshadowdrake/pseuds/ladyshadowdrake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick invites his captain over to Monroe's for a Christmas Eve dinner. </p><p>A short request fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Novel Christmas

Sean wasn’t sure what made him accept the invitation. He stood on a blutbad’s doorstep, the bottle of wine in his hand heavy and cold. He frowned at the door knocker. Christmas was not something he enjoyed. He could clearly recall the sight of many happy Christmas celebrations through the frame of the stairwell banister. He remembered crouching on the stairs in his pajamas, hands wrapped around the carved wooden posts as he watched his father’s family celebrate below. He watched his half-brothers tearing open mountains of wrapped presents, watched his father drape an arm around Eric’s shoulders and give him hugs, ruffle his hair.

Sean’s first Christmas memory was shuffling shyly into the room well before anyone else, quickly and furtively checking each package for his own name – he still didn’t read well, but he knew his name, and most of the time he didn’t even write the ‘S’ backwards anymore. None of the packages carried his familiar name, not even the tiny ones hidden in the boughs of the festive tree. Only five, Sean already understood that he was unwanted burden in his father’s home, but it still hurt to find the tree empty for him. He heard the clatter of Eric’s big feet on the stairs and hurried out of the room before his brother could catch him there. Eric was not kind to his dad’s bastard, and Sean did his best to stay out of the bigger boy’s way whenever he could. Once all the rest of the family was in the drawing room with their presents, the fire giving the scene a warm glow, Sean crept to the top of the stairs and watched. He craned to get a glimpse of the presents, and hoped against hope that someone would pick one up and say, “This isn’t for me. It says it’s for Sean.”

After the family left the sitting room, Sean tiptoed back down and rescued a few pieces of paper from the mess on the floor. He darted back upstairs and clumsily wrapped up his teddy bear. It didn’t look as neat as the other presents, and it was covered in three different kinds of paper, but it made him smile. He set the wrapped bear at the end of the bed, crawled back under the covers, feigned waking up and – look there! A present, just for him? Excited, he grabbed up the package and tore the paper away.

“Oh, daddy,” he said very softly. His eyes darted quickly to the door just to make sure it was still closed – he wasn’t allowed to call his father that- and then he smiled at the ratty bear. “It’s just what I wanted. Thank you.”

“Hey, Captain! Glad you could make it!”

Sean looked up sharply to see Nick standing in the open doorway. The man smiled warmly, but his eyes were shadowed, nervous. Their relationship was much improved after months of finding their footing, getting a feel for how they worked together now that Nick knew the truth. Maybe it was that, more than anything, that had him driving across town with a bottle from his own wine collection. He forced a smile and held out the bottle – a 2009 La Prohibicion – but he was suddenly unsure. The wine was slightly exotic, and wouldn’t suit every palate. Perhaps he should have gone with Bordeaux after all. Nick took it from him with a smile, reading the label out of what Sean suspected was polite habit as his face showed no signs of recognition or an opinion one way or another.

“This is great,” Nick said. “Monroe and Juliette are both wine lovers.” He gave Sean a somewhat sheepish look. “I really don’t know a thing about it.”

“It is…” Sean frowned. “Perhaps it wasn’t the best choice. I can go and get something else.” He shifted his weight back again, taking it as the perfect out.

“No, I’m sure it’s good.” Nick stood back, holding the door open. “Come on in.”

Sean hesitated another moment, but he heard Juliette’s familiar voice from inside calling out to shut the door, so he slid past Nick into the house. Monroe’s home may have been quaint and comfortable any other day of the year, but he obviously took his Christmas decorations very seriously. The entire house was filled to bursting with ticking clocks, Christmas lights, giant nutcrackers, a whistling train set, and old music playing on a gramophone. Sean’s right eye twitched as he took in the sheer magnitude of the decorations, the maddening _tick tick tick_ of the clocks. If there was one thing he didn’t need, it was a constant reminder of the time. He felt like the minutes were already distorting, stretching into hours while he slid off his heavy overcoat and handed it to Nick to be hung up.

“I think you know everyone,” Nick said, leading Sean into the dining room, where a feast was laid out on the table, all the chairs but two already occupied. Nick looked up at him for confirmation and Sean nodded, quickly taking in the upturned faces. The blutbad, Monroe, and his fuschbau girlfriend Rosalee, Hank, and Juliette.

Sean gave Juliette a nervous sidelong glance. If she glared at him, pinched her lips in obvious annoyance, looked in any way uncomfortable, Sean thought he would leave that very moment. She surprised him with an uninhibited smile of such gentle warmth that Sean actually rocked backward.

“We’re glad you could make it, Captain,” she said, still smiling. Nick took the seat next to her, leaving Sean the open seat at the end of the table, opposite Monroe.

“Oh, the captain brought this.” Nick handed the bottle over to Monroe, who twisted it to get to the label.

“La Prohibicion!” Monroe declared, giddy and happy. “2009 was a good year. I’ve only tried it once, and this is good stuff.” He beamed at Sean and handed it to Juliette when she made a grabbing gesture for it. “And not cheap,” he added in an undertone to Rosalee, but not quiet enough if he was going for subtle.

“You have great taste in wine,” Juliette decided, giving Sean another smile that made him feel uncomfortably warm.

To his grave, Sean would deny that he was blushing. “It was just the first thing I grabbed,” he lied. He’d actually spent hours vacillating between four bottles, agonizing over what would be a neutral choice that could fit with any meal, and what would be nice but not extravagant in case anyone actually did know about wine. He was glad he put the four hundred dollar bottle back.  

They got over the moment of awkwardness and started dishing up dinner. Usually Sean bought himself a nice steak, a bottle of wine, and sat in front of the TV with his dinner, so an all vegetarian Christmas dinner was a novel experience. He praised the cooking honestly, accepted a glass of La Prohibicion, and was mellow and warm by the end of the dinner.

~*~

As the meal broke up, Sean started inching for the door. He wasn’t sure what else went on at a Christmas Eve dinner party, and not sure that he could take any more of the glaring Christmas decorations. He hovered in the dining room doorway, uncertain of the etiquette. That, as well, was a new experience. Sean may not have been raised in a loving household, but he wasn’t left in complete isolation. If anything, he was more strictly schooled in social etiquette than anyone else. As a bastard, he was at an inherent disadvantage in his father’s social circles, and he had to work hard to be charming and witty to make up for it. Standing awkwardly in someone’s doorway rubbed against the grain of that training, but he’d never been to this kind of gathering before.

“We’re just going to get the table cleared off, and then maybe play a board game,” Juliette told him, gathering up dishes. “You’re welcome to stay. Monroe has pumpkin cheesecake for dessert once we’ve all had a chance to digest.”

Sean didn’t know how to say that he actually _didn’t_ want to stay without sounding panicked, or rude, or both. So he summoned up a smile and moved forward smoothly to help clear off dishes. He tried to make himself useful in the kitchen, but it was not an overly large space, and already crowded with Monroe and Rosalee at the sink and Juliette putting away leftovers at the counter. He floundered, hands full of dishes, until Rosalee turned and took the stack from him.

“Could you clear the candles and center piece off the table?” she asked. “Just set them on the sideboard.”

Sean had no illusions that she was giving him busy work to get him out of the kitchen. He latched onto the small task gratefully, pausing only to rescue a damp cloth before fleeing. Sean tossed the wet cloth to Hank. Nick helped him move the decorations off the table and Hank set to wiping it off while Nick left for the promised (threatened?) board game.

It wasn’t until everyone sat down around the table with pads of paper, pencils, and felt-lined leather cups that Sean admitted, “I’ve never played this before.”

“Yahtzee? We could play something else, if you want – we have Monopoly, Pictionary, Cranium, and I think I have an old Risk set somewhere, but you and Nick would probably wipe the floor with the rest of us, so no Risk for you.” Monroe pointed a mock-serious finger between Sean and Nick.

Sean exchanged a look with the Grimm. He cleared his throat. “I actually have never played a board game. Except Chess, but I don’t think that counts.”

“ _Never_?” Monroe clarified with his mouth hanging open.

Sean’s lips compressed into an unhappy line. “Board games were not exactly part of my childhood.” Or any games that involved more than just him, but he didn’t add that.

“I’ll show you,” Rosalee said before the silence could get any heavier.

Sean considered just leaving, but he reluctantly nodded.

~*~

Thick slices of pumpkin cheesecake were passed out in the middle of the game, and Sean enjoyed the rare sweet treat. He’d never developed much of a taste for sweets, but the cheesecake was the right balance of sweetness and substance. The Yahtzee game finished with Hank as the winner and Monroe sulking unsubtly about it – blutbads made poor losers, but then, so did zauberbiests. Sean again crept for the door. Hank escaped shortly after playfully declaring himself ‘the winner, suck it losers’ and getting an eyeful of an annoyed blutbad in woge. Nick was pulling jackets out of the closet, so it appeared the evening was coming to a close. Sean was surprised to find that he’d enjoyed himself.

“Thank you again for inviting me,” he said, holding out a hand to Monroe.

“No problem, man. And thanks for the wine – really great stuff.” He shook Sean’s hand firmly and patted his belly with the opposite hand, grinning.

Sean offered Rosalee a handshake as well, but she slid into his space and put her arms around his neck instead, leaning up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. Sean went still with shock, wide eyes meeting Monroe’s blissfully unconcerned face. Sean awkwardly patted her back and she pulled away from him.

“Thanks for coming,” she said. “You’re welcome any time.”

Sean nodded, unable to say anything in response, inclined his head to Monroe again, and turned for the door. Nick held his jacket out to him, but a tap on his shoulder halted him before he could take it. He turned to find Juliette with a small package wrapped in red and green paper, a gold bow tied on the top.

“Nick and I got you something, and since we won’t see you tomorrow, I thought I should give it to you tonight.”

Sean stared at the package mutely, mind numb with shock. His pulse thundered loud in his ears and an unexpected tightness gripped his chest and squeezed. The memories of dozens of disappointing, lonely, painful Christmases flooded through him. Staring at that package, he was once again a child clinging to the stairwell banister, longing for something he wasn’t allowed to touch.

“It’s nothing much,” Juliette said after several seconds passed. She sounded uncertain, her hands tightening on the box. She held it out, inches from his chest.

Sean reached up and took the box in gentle hands. It wasn’t heavy, but it felt solid. He hesitantly opened the tag attached to the top, almost expecting it to be some kind of cruel joke, for the tag to read any name other than his. _Captain Renard_ , it read in a flowing feminine script. It wasn’t quite _Sean_ , but it was the only Christmas present he’d ever held with his own name on it.

He looked up at her, bowled over by an emotion he couldn’t name. “Thank you,” he managed finally, almost whispering the words.

She smiled. He hadn’t seen her in person since the zaubertrank that nearly ruined both of their lives. He expected to see hatred there, or at least bitterness, wariness. Her eyes were nothing but sincere and warm. For the second time that night, a woman not his own stepped up against him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He stood frozen for a moment, just as he had with Rosalee, but then his arms came down around her back and he held her tightly for no other purpose than comfort.

Juliette gave him a second to get himself under control and then backed away from him. Sean took a step back as well, suddenly acutely aware of Nick standing just to his left. There was perhaps the barest ghost of suspicion in Nick’s eyes when Sean turned to take his coat, but he still offered Sean a firm handshake and a friendly smile.

“Merry Christmas, Captain.”

On an impulse, Sean blurted out, “Call me Sean.” And because he wasn’t crazy, added, “When we’re off duty.”

Nick looked surprised, but he tightened his hand briefly on Sean’s and amended, “Merry Christmas, Sean.”


End file.
